Iran considers harsh penalty for some bloggers

This analyst says the new calls for the creation of new courts to speed up prosecution of criminals such as rapists, thieves, kidnappers, and bloggers: what is new here is the one article that says operation of weblogs and websites which promote corruption, pornography, and atheism are also subject to capital punishment. The bill states anyone guilty of these crimes are enemies of the state and of earth, which is punishable by death in Iran, but the language is a little vague on details. This analyst points out the bill doesn’t define a corrupt blog or website and is thus Draconian. He says he expects the bill to pass and he points out that many Iranian bloggers have gotten into trouble with the Iranian criminal system. Another analyst says this points out the direction the Iranian government wants to go in in relation to blogs. Some bloggers point out that they can already be picked up on the vaguest of charges. This US-based Iranian blogger thinks that corruption and pornography is the main target of this new law. The death penalty is not an idle threat in Iran, however, and only China surpassed Iran last year in the number of executions.